It’s been over a year since I posted my list of 100 Essential Superhero Movies, and I do want to keep this list updated every year, adding in new movies from the previous year, and taking out movies that only just barely made the cut. Another thing that I decided to do a little bit […]

Filmwhys #21 The Seventh Seal and Batman: The Movie

Welcome to another episode of the Why Haven’t You Seen This Film Podcast where my guest John LaRue of The Droid You’re Looking For asks me why I haven’t seen The Seventh Seal, a classic Ingmar Bergman film with Max Von Sydow best known for the scenes where he is playing a game of chess with Death. And in return, I ask him why he hasn’t seen Batman: The Movie, the classic theatrical production spun off of the first season of the campy TV show from the 60’s.

Click here to listen, you can also subscribe to the show via iTunes or Stitcher and as always, I appreciate it if you give me a review, star rating, thumbs up, or whatever it is on however you listen to the show. I will hopefully be back next week with a shorter, in-between episode with a guest or two not talking about specific films, but just a more general topic. And special thanks to John for designing this episode’s mash-up poster! Until next time, this has been Bubbawheat for Flights, Tights, and Movie Nights.

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About Bubbawheat

I'm a comic book movie enthusiast who has watched and reviewed over 300 superhero and comic book movies in the past four years, my goal is to continue to find and watch and review every superhero movie ever made.

Great podcast episode. Obviously, I’m a big, big fan of Batman: The Movie, I don’t think there’s much I need to add to what you guys said, except perhaps one bit about what you guys noticed on the “ranking” of the villains, so to speak. I think the reason the Joker got sidelined in the movie — he got his share on the series, definitely — is that while Cesar Romero was good, he wasn’t quite on the same level as Meredith or Gorshin. The writers actually had spare Penguin scripts ready just in case Meredith was in town, he was so good in his role. And of course, Gorshin is responsible for virtually everything about the Riddler’s modern portrayal and fame. He was a four-comic character before the show, and was meant to just be an occasional fill-in like the Mad Hatter or Clock King; it was Gorshin’s performance that turned him into one of the “big four villains”. Catwoman, of course, gets the limelight because there’s the romantic angle there.

The main thing though is that you both found the film to be a blast. I’m always just a little worried when someone sees it for the first time, because I’m not sure if they’ll really get it, considering how Batman has been portrayed for the last 25 years. Clearly John got it.

The Seventh Seal is a film I respect more than I like. It does a lot very well and of course its themes are very relatable. I just felt as though for a film about defying death, there wasn’t a lot of life to it. Even the witch-burning scene, it seemed like Block (Van Sydow’s character) was just going “Huh. This isn’t good. Well, I guess I’ll do something.” On the other hand, the only characters who did express a clear joy of life are the ones who wound up living, so this may have been at least somewhat intentional.

It helped a lot that he was a fan of the show as well, which when I listened back I realized he mentioned it early on, and then I asked about it again later. Thanks for the extra info, I always enjoy reading it!